Another step toward Romney 2012: Marriott bans porn

By BEN SMITH

01/23/2011 06:32 PM EST

The story was buried in the hospitality trade press over the weekend, but it's in fact another mark of Mitt Romney's methodical tying off loose ends as he prepares to declare his bid for the White House.

The hotel chain Marriott, whose board Romney recently left and whose owners are longtime Romney supporters, released this statement over the weekend to USA Today's hotel's blog:

It is our practice to keep adult content out of the reach of children and unavailable to any adult who chooses not to view it. We have strong controls in place that allow guests to block these materials. Changing technology and how guests access entertainment has reduced the revenue hotels and their owners derive from in-room movies, including adult content. We are working with in-room entertainment providers and technology vendors to transition to the next generation of in-room entertainment. This new platform of Internet-based video-on-demand will facilitate our exit from the traditional hotel video systems that included adult content in the menu selection, and will also provide guests greater choice and control over what they watch across our system.

As we transition to this new platform,
adult content will be off the menu for virtually all of our newly built hotels. Over the next few years, this will be the policy across our system.

The hotel chain's lucrative porn sideline was an irritant to Romney during the 2008 campaign, when one social conservative referred to him as a "major pornographer." Now, he has a better story to tell. (I emailed his spokesman to ask whether he participate in the decision to end the service, and will update if I hear.)

And the reader who pointed this decision out notes that Marriott seems to be doing Romney a costly favor: The in-room porn business is in decline, but was still making them some $175 per room annually, according to the most recent figures available.

Another person familiar with the workings of the industry, though, cast doubt on the connection: The in-room movie business has been hit hard by wifi, Netflix, iPads, and laptops, and the structure of contracts with providers could well have made it a solid economic decision.